The Golden Trio
by Love the Starry Night
Summary: Having experienced too much suffering too early in their lives, it takes a little magic to remind Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto what happiness truly is. With the wizarding world of Harry Potter to escape to when reality becomes too much to bear, the trio grows up learning what life, love, and family truly mean. Real world AU.
1. Prologue, Age Seven, 1994

In a small town in Colorado, there lived a man with gray hair.

He wasn't an old man, however. He was actually quite young. People thought he was rather peculiar-he had the tendency to wear surgical masks in public, and could be seen reading novels of a questionable genre in broad daylight.

His name was Kakashi Hatake, and horrible literary taste aside, he was fairly normal. He was a kindergarten teacher at the local elementary school, and for the most part he kept to himself; he didn't have any girlfriends, nor any children. He lived alone in an average two-story house on an average residential street. His house was normally very quiet, even when he was present in it; there was no coming and going of scads of people. He had only a few friends, people he had known almost his entire life, who would encourage him to open up, maybe try and branch out, meet new people. But Kakashi would only reply, when the subject came up, with (what they could only assume was) a smile, and an insistence that he was happy living as he was.

As for family, Kakashi had few living relations, as his mother had died before he was old enough to remember her and his father had succumbed to cancer a few short years after Kakashi had graduated from college. He had an older sister whom he saw very little, a niece that he saw even less, and a brother-in-law who might as well have been a stranger. Mebuki and her husband Kizashi were constantly traveling, doing consultant work for corporations large and small, all over the continent. They were the power couple: they had met through work, centered their entire relationship in their work, and as a married couple they blazed the trail of their combined careers relentlessly to reach the ends that extended beyond what Kakashi chose to comprehend. Attached to their side, like a stray leaf growing from the trunk of a tree, was their daughter. His niece was their extra baggage, their inescapable responsibility; Kakashi often worried that they might just forget her at an airport one day without a thought. They almost had, once; it was only when airport security announced her predicament did her parents realize she was not with them. From the discussion Kakashi had had with Mebuki about it, she was less than concerned, thinking that the girl should not have run off in the first place.

Mebuki was not thrilled to have a child. The attention his niece needed meant that his sister had less time to devote to her job. It was only half-surprising, then, that one day Mebuki called him to ask if he would take her daughter off of her hands.

"You've always been the one that was better with kids, Kakashi," Mebuki insisted. "And you work at a school that she can go to. It's perfect!."

Kakashi, not unreasonably, was thrown for a loop. "Are you serious?" he asked incredulously.

"Of course I'm serious, Kakashi, why else would I bring it up?" she replied indignantly, as if scandalized that Kakashi would think she was above essentially abandoning her daughter. "I can't handle her. _We _can't handle her. What else am I supposed to do?"

"Buy a house and settle down."

"We can't do that now, we're right in the middle of a deal! We're _so close_. Do you expect me to just ignore that? I can't just-"

"Take care of the child you both decided to have?" Kakashi interrupted coldly. "She's your daughter, Mebuki. _Your daughter. _She comes before anything else. If you are not going to do right by her, you should not have brought her into the world in the first place."

But Mebuki was not listening. She was yelling on the other end of the line, but not at him. _"You put that down right now! How many times have I told you not to touch that? Go. Sit. Down." _Then,_ "do you think you can just pick something up because it's there?" _There was the sudden ring of a slap, and a small high-pitched whimper._ "Don't do it again. _I'm sorry, Kakashi, what were you saying?"

"How soon can you bring her?"

It was only a week later that Sakura Haruno arrived at his doorstep, flanked by her preoccupied parents.

Kakashi had done his best to get his home ready for Sakura's arrival: hiding his more mature novels in his closet, cleaning out the spare bedroom down the hall from his upstairs office, stocking his pantry with kid-friendly foods like Captain Crunch and Kraft Easy Mac. He didn't know his niece very well, but having worked with kids around her age, he figured that she would like some of the things that they did. He'd also bought a whole stack of Disney movies, and some colorful plastic plates, bowls, and cups for her to use. He decided that he'd figure the rest out along the way.

Sakura had looked up at him timidly, pale green eyes wide, as he had opened the front door and invited the Harunos in. She was a beautiful child, with her snowy skin, soft pink hair, and of course those piercing eyes-Kakashi didn't know how Mebuki, who he wasn't ashamed to admit was not the most attractive of women, and Kizashi, the man whose face was set in a permanent grimace, had produced such an angel. Kakashi, foregoing pleasantries with Sakura's parents, kneeled down in front of the little girl.

"Hi, there," he said, pulling down his mask and smiling kindly. "Remember me?"

Sakura only nodded, twisting a long piece of hair between her tiny hands.

"Don't just stand there like an idiot-say hello to your uncle!" Mebuki snapped. Sakura barely whispered a greeting and then looked down, hiding her face behind her long bangs.

"Mebuki, as this is my house, I would ask that you refrain from speaking to Sakura in that manner," Kakashi said. The smile he directed at his sister was a perfectly courteous, but his tone plainly hid a threatening edge. She shifted uncomfortably.

Eventually she said, "Where can we put her things? We need to leave-our plane takes off in two hours and I don't want to miss it."

Kakashi directed them to the guest bedroom, where Kizashi deposited two small suitcases-all of the belongings in the world that Sakura Haruno had to her name. Kakashi wondered if Sakura had any toys at all, or books. He would assume not.

"When will you be sending the paperwork to transfer custody?" Kakashi asked when they returned to the living room downstairs. Mebuki gave him a strange look.

"Transfer custody?" Apparently the thought had not even crossed her mind.

"I was under the impression that this was to be permanent," Kakashi said. "Besides, the school will need the signature of a legal guardian in order for her to be admitted. And you won't be here when she starts school, will you?"

"I thought you would have all of that here now. I thought we were taking care of this _now._"

"I don't cater to your every whim, Mebuki." Kakashi's gaze grew hard and unforgiving. "All of this isn't for you-it's for _her._ As I said before: she. Comes. First."

Mebuki glared at him, sparing a glance for her daughter, who was clinging close to her side. "Fine. I'll get my attorney to draw up the paperwork. Expect it next Monday."

The Harunos all walked to the front door. Sakura was edging close to her mother's side, expecting to leave with her parents. Mebuki looked down at her daughter, and, as if she felt a sudden surge of maternal instinct, knelt down in front of her.

"Um...be good, Sakura. Kakashi is being nice enough to let you live here. So...just be good." She made as if to hug Sakura, but let her arms drop back to her side. She awkwardly patted Sakura's head, and then stood up. "Kizashi, we need to catch the plane."

"Live here?" Sakura repeated. Mebuki did not reply.

Sakura's father spared her only a glance, and walked out the door, Mebuki following close behind. Their daughter stared out the door, motionless, until she comprehended the finality of what was happening. Suddenly aware of the fact that her parents were leaving for what might be longer than they ever had before, Sakura dashed after them. "Mommy!" she cried. "Mommy!" Kakashi quickly darted after her, scooping her up before she could run out into the street. It was as though she intended to follow the now-retreating car all the way onto the main road. She squirmed angrily in Kakashi's arms as he carried her back toward the house, not knowing what else he could do.

When he got inside, he shut the door behind him and locked the door. Sakura, who had stopped squirming, was now clinging to him like a monkey and sobbing uncontrollably. Kakashi stroked her hair as he climbed the stairs, his intent to put her to bed even though it was only two hours past noon. He knew that kids her age, when they were upset, found it a relief to simply drift off into the bliss of sleep, into a place where sadness could not intrude upon their dreams. Sakura was upset about something that she would likely be upset about again and again in the future, both near and distant, and that wasn't something Kakashi could fix-her parents had decided that they simply did not want to deal with raising her, in favor of cultivating their careers, and Kakashi had no power whatsoever to change that.

He had no idea how his sister had become so self-centered. As he lay Sakura on the twin-size bed, pulling off her sandals and the headband that was holding back her mop of pink hair, he heard her whimper _"Mommy" _in her sweet little-girl voice, in between her sobs, and grimaced with a sudden wave of mournful anger. Mebuki wouldn't be there for Sakura's next birthday, or for the first time she rode a bike, or even, he doubted, her first date. Mebuki was going to miss all of it, and she didn't care. Sakura wailed with the deepest, most aching grief a person could draw from, and the person she wanted more than anything was speeding off to destinations unknow, by then probably reviewing her itenerary for the next week.

Sakura wouldn't let go of the collar of his shirt, so Kakashi lay down beside her and gently combed her hair out with his fingers. He was the only person she had in the world, now; he was the only one in their small, laughable excuse for a family that wanted her. And he would be there for all those firsts.

Sakura's breath evened, her eyes flicking back and forth behind her eyelids. Kakashi imagined that she was tired, more tired than a seven-year-old girl should be. All she'd ever known was plane rides and hotel rooms and board meetings, and yelling and slaps when she behaved as the child she was supposed to be. Her life until that point had been a forest of adults and grayscale meeting rooms; she'd probably never even met a kid her own age.

For the next few days Kakashi let Sakura adjust to her new home. She was slow in warming up to him, and he let her take her time. In the mornings he got up early and made himself some coffee, and then went to Sakura's room to wake her up. He would help her dress and brush her hair, and then they would eat breakfast together in the kitchen. Kakashi learned that while Sakura liked cereal well enough, she preferred warm breakfasts like scrambled eggs or pancakes. Kakashi chalked this fact up to the room service or continental breakfasts at hotels that she had gotten her breakfast from in the past. On Sunday, Kakashi asked Sakura if she was up to going to school with him-and to his surprise, she was.

Come the next Monday morning, he helped her pack up a little backpack, made her a sandwich with some healthy whole-wheat bread and ham (Sakura had informed him that she didn't like the way turkey smelled), and drove with her to Leafbud Elementary school. She wasn't enrolled as of yet, but Kakashi had explained most of the situation to the principal a few days before his niece's arrival, and obtained permission to bring her to school to start "acclimating."

"Uncle Kakashi, why can't I be in your class?" Sakura asked him as he walked her to her teacher Mr. Iruka's room.

"I teach kindergarten, Sakura," he explained. "My class is for kids who are a lot younger than you-five and six-year olds."

"But I'm only seven," she insisted. "That's only a year older."

Kakashi nodded sagely. "True. But you were homeschooled, right?" His niece nodded. "You're already ahead of even the kids your age, I'd bet. Besides, you can relate better to kids your age than to kids younger than you. Don't you think?"

Sakura nodded. "But...but..."

"Hm?" Kakashi stopped, tugging on Sakura's hand when she kept going. "But what?"

Sakura shook her head, her forehead creasing. "Mommy says not to ask questions."

"Your mom thinks kids should do as they're told, instead of think for themselves," Kakashi said, bending down to look her in the eye. "I think-no, I _know_-that she's wrong. You can always ask me whatever you want, Sakura."

She bit her lip and considered for a minute. "Butwhatiftheydon'tlikeme," she said in a rush.

Kakashi raised his brows, and then grinned. "Trust me, Sakura, they'll like you just fine. I know most of the kids who you'll be in class with; they're all good kids. You'll have fun, sweet girl," he insisted, using the pet name he had adopted for her. She put on a brave face when he said goodbye, and despite her being the insecure one, he felt a wave of reassurance wash away some of the worry he did not know was there.

The morning passed by uneventfully. Kakashi checked on Sakura during the kid's lunch hour. She was sitting by herself.

"I tried to convince her to sit with some of the other kids, but she wouldn't," Iruka, her teacher, explained to Kakashi as they stood a little ways away from Iruka's class' row of tables in the cafeteria. Kakashi had known Iruka since his first year teaching. The man had a knack for connecting with problem students and bringing out the best in them. He was of average height, with coarse brown hair he kept tied up at the crown of his head, and a long scar right across his nose, reaching almost from one cheekbone to the other. Kakashi had never asked where he'd gotten it from. Nevertheless, Iruka had a proclivity for friendliness, and Kakashi was glad he was to be Sakura's teacher..

"That's all right," he assured the man. "She just needs time. I'm going to go say hi, if you don't mind."

"Not at all."

Kakashi crouched down next to where Sakura was sitting. "Hi, there. Everything okay?"

Sakura nodded, and Kakashi noticed that her lunch box was empty. She must have wolfed down her lunch very quickly. He wondered briefly if his sister had even been making sure Sakura had been eating enough. "The boys are loud," Sakura said.

"Are they?" Kakashi replied.

"Uh-huh. Especially Naruto. He's always picking a fight with Sasuke." She pointed at two boys, a blonde one who was rather short and a black-haired one who was glaring at the former.

"Naruto and Sasuke are always going at it. They were a menace even in kindergarten," Kakashi said, fondly remembering frequent time-outs and fights with finger paints. Upon hearing their names, the boys looked up. The blond one's sky-blue eyes lit up, and he bounded immediately from his chair to the empty space Sakura was sitting at.

"Mr. Kakashi!" he exclaimed, his voice characteristically loud. Kakashi flicked the boy's forehead.

"That's _Mr. Hatake_, Naruto," he chided, albeit good-naturedly. "You've gotten so big. How do you like the second grade?"

"It's great! Mr. Iruka is the best!" Naruto clamored. "Why are you talking to the new girl?"

"The 'new girl,' as you put her, is my niece," Kakashi said. "She lives with me now, and she's going to be coming to this school from now on."

"Ohhh," Naruto said, dragging out the end of the word. He looked at Sakura. "Hey, what's your name again? I forgot."

The black-haired boy, Sasuke, by then had come to the table, not to be outdone by his classroom rival. "Her name's Sakura, dummy. Don't you ever listen to Mr. Iruka?"

"Boys, shouldn't you be calling your teacher by his last name?" Kakashi said, a little exasperated. The boys gawked at him.

"He never told us his last name," Naruto said. "He just said that Mr. Iruka is okay."

Kakashi rubbed the bridge of his nose. Now he remembered why he was so glad the two weren't in his class anymore. Not that he didn't like them, of course...

"Sasuke, Naruto," he said, having been hit with sudden inspiration. "Sakura is brand new to Hidden Leaves, and so she doesn't have any friends here. Will you do something for me? As a personal favor?"

The boys straightened. "Uh-huh!" they exclaimed in unison.

"Look out for her, okay? She doesn't know much about the school. Help her out when she gets lost, and things like that."

Sasuke glanced at Naruto. "I don't know if Naruto can help with that. He _still_ gets lost, and he's been here for three years."

"What did you say?!" Naruto demanded.

"You heard me, dummy!"

_"Boys," _Kakashi interrupted, suppressing a sigh. "Will you look out for Sakura? It would mean a lot to me."

"Yeah, okay," Sasuke said, peering at Sakura curiously. Kakashi knew how his mind worked: Sasuke was wondering what kind of person Sakura was to need the help Kakashi was asking for.

"Yessir!" Naruto cried enthusiastically. His thoughts were easy to figure out-he liked people, and Sakura was people, so he liked Sakura. Ergo, he was more than happy to be her friend. He then rushed to his table and grabbed his half-eaten lunch in his small fists, running back and plopping down into a chair. He smirked at Sasuke, who frowned, and then followed suit, sitting in the chair beside the other boy. Kakashi smiled. Sakura, who had been looking around in slight confusion, smiled shyly, and just like that, she had two new friends.

At the end of the day, Kakashi collected Sakura from her classroom and thanked Iruka for his including her even though she wasn't yet enrolled. Sasuke and Naruto waved good-bye to her, both grinning, and Sakura enthusiastically called out a cheery "See you later!"

"How did you like your class?" he asked her as they walked down the hallway, hand in hand.

"Sasuke and Naruto fight a _lot_," she said. "I think they're best friends though."

Kakashi chuckled. "Oh, really? That sounds about right." Despite their differences, Naruto and Sasuke could always playing together during recess with the rest of their friends.

"Uh-huh. And they both have really pretty eyes, Uncle Kakashi. And they let me play tag with them during recess!"

The tightening in Kakashi's chest loosened for the first time since seeing his sister. "That's great, sweet girl. I'm happy you had fun."

At home, Kakashi got Sakura started on her homework while he began cooking spaghetti for dinner. After they finished eating, they washed the dishes together, and Kakashi settled Sakura in with one of the movies he'd bought for her, _Bambi_, sitting down at the kitchen table to look over his student's worksheets. They were learning the alphabet for the first time, and it always made his heart feel warm when he saw those blocky, shaky letters etched carefully, and in some cases haphazardly, onto the dotted lines. The novelty of the children's first writings never wore off. There was something to be said about being the first teacher who got to show them how the language they would communicate with for the rest of their lives could be used.

There was a knock at the front door. Sakura turned in her seat, leaning over the back of the couch. "Uncle Kakashi, someone is at the door!"

"Thank you, Sakura," he said. He pulled his surgical mask up over his nose and mouth, and went to answer the door. He was surprised to find who was behind it.

"Jiraiya," Kakashi said, raising his eyebrows. "What brings you here?" Jiraiya was Naruto's godfather, and his guardian. He was a giant in comparison to Kakashi, even though the latter was not short by any stretch of the imagination, and had long, bushy white hair that he kept tied back loosely at the nape of his neck. They knew each other through Naruto's deceased parents; Kakashi had been close to the boy's father, Minato, whom Jiraiya had taught during the latter's stint at Hidden Leaves University. "Is Naruto okay?"

"Naruto is fine," Jiraiya said. "I convinced Tsunade to watch him. It's a good thing she hasn't left town yet. I need to talk to you."

"Come inside-Sakura's watching _Snow White_, and I don't want to leave her by herself."

The two entered the house, Jiraiya stooping so he wouldn't bang his forehead on the doorjamb. Instead of saying hello to Sakura, as Kakashi had expected him to, Jiraiya went straight into the kitchen, motioning for Kakashi to join him. He kept his voice hushed when he spoke.

"The Uchihas-Mikoto and Fugaku-they were found dead in their house."

Kakashi felt as though the wind had been knocked out of him. _"What?"_

"Sasuke walked home from school-he doesn't live far away, you already knew that-and the boy _found them._ Both already dead, from gunshot wounds."

"How-why-" Kakashi was struggling to get the words out. This couldn't be happening. Just a few hours ago, he and his niece and his two former students had been talking and laughing, without a care in the world. Bile rose in Kakashi's throat, but he forced it down. "Itachi. What about Itachi?"

"He's out of town. On a trip. I don't remember. The police are trying to get ahold of him, but he isn't answering his phone."

"My god," Kakashi murmured, horrorstruck. "What about Sasuke, then? Where is he?"

"At the station. I came here because I need to ask you a favor. I know you have your hands full, but would you be willing to let him stay over here? Just until we get this mess sorted out. I'd have him over with me and Naruto, but there just isn't enough room."

Kakashi nodded, brutally shoving his distress down and focusing himself on the present. "He can stay with us."

"Uncle Kakashi?"

The men whirled around. Sakura was standing in the doorway, rubbing her eyes. "The movie is over, Uncle Kakashi. I'm sleepy." After sharing a look with Jiraiya, Kakashi went to kneel in front of the little girl, taking both of her hands. He had no idea how Sakura would react to such horrible news. He decided to keep it concise-it wasn't the best time to discuss with her the concepts of murder and death.

"Sweet girl, you can go to bed soon. How would you feel if Sasuke came over to stay for a little while?"

"Sasuke from school?" she asked, looking a little surprised.

"Yes, Sasuke from school," Kakashi affirmed.

"That would be fun," Sakura said, yawning. "He can use the mattress under my bed. I don't mind sharing. But he can't have Dot." Dot was her stuffed rabbit. She slept curled around it every night; she had been doing so ever since Kakashi bought it for her as a present, just the day after her arrival. Even at that very moment she had the toy tucked into the crook of her elbow.

"He won't want Dot. He's...he's not going to be the same as he was earlier, Sakura. He'll...well, he'll be hard to talk to. Just be patient, okay? If he doesn't want to talk, you just let him do that." Kakashi understood to an extent how Sasuke's mind and personality worked, thanks to having to mediate fights between him and his best friend, and guessed that Sasuke would be in shock, unable to cry or even speak.

"Why will he be different?" Sakura asked. "What's wrong?"

"I'll explain tomorrow, Sakura, I promise. Go brush your teeth-I'll come tuck you in in a minute."

Sakura padded up the stairs, Dot drooping over one arm. Kakashi turned back to Jiraiya once his niece was out of earshot. "Why would someone do something like this?"

"Fugaku was the town police chief. I imagine he had a lot of enemies," Jiraiya said darkly. "Kakashi, I need to go and pick up Sasuke. I'll be back in a few hours."

"Go," Kakashi insisted. "I'll be ready for him when you get back."

The next morning, Sakura and Kakashi ate breakfast alone together. Sasuke was sleeping on the spare mattress that Kakashi had stored under Sakura's bed, having arrived very late the previous night. Sakura was unusually quiet. Having only lived with her for a less than a week, he had discovered that his niece was uncommonly perceptive for her age-she saw a lot more than most kids, and it showed when she kept her questions to herself. Kakashi had arranged for Jiraiya to watch Sasuke while he and Sakura went to school. Hopefully Itachi would show up soon, with whoever had custody over the now-orphaned boy, so that Kakashi wouldn't have to take time off from work at such short notice. He had done that the previous week to welcome Sakura, and felt that it would be overstepping his priveleges to do so again.

Jiraiya soon showed up, toting a satchel filled with papers-research for his next novel. He was an English professor at the local university, and novelist on the side. He was also less than a month away from a big move to Cambridge in the United Kingdom. He'd been extended a tenured position at Trinity College. Needless to say, Naruto was furious to have to leave Hidden Leaves with his godfather, as he'd demonstrated through the temper tantrum he'd thrown when told of the moving plans. Kakashi had been present for that one, and it had _not_ been pleasant.

Today Jiraiya greeted Sakura as Kakashi expected. "My, my, aren't you a pretty little thing!"

Not knowing how to respond, Sakura looked questioningly a Kakashi, who nodded encouragingly. Eventually she simply said, "I'm Sakura. Who are you?"

"My name's Jiraiya! I'm sorry I didn't introduce myself yesterday."

Sakura shrugged. "It's okay. You had to talk to Uncle Kakashi."

Jiraiya got comfortable at the kitchen table, spreading his papers out and putting his reading glasses on. Kakashi woke Sasuke for a moment to let him know they were leaving, making sure the boy knew to ask Jiraiya if he needed anything, and bid him goodbye for the day. Sakura hesitated to do the same, suddenly insistently addressing him. "When I get home, we can watch a movie together, okay?" And to Kakashi's surprise, she set Dot beside him on the small mattress. "She hugs really well. You can borrow her if you want. But not for keeps!"

Sasuke looked at Dot, his blank, empty expression unchanged. Kakashi felt a small pang as he came to terms with the fact that the smiling little boy he'd taught was gone-most likely for good.

At almost the second that the schoolday ended, Sakura was waiting outside the classroom for Kakashi to emerge, so that they could go home, Naruto hot on her heels. It was Kakashi's plan to take Naruto home with them, so Jiraiya wouldn't have to make a detour to the school on his way home. When they got into the house, the kids ran straight to the living room, where Sasuke was sitting on the couch. Dot was in the empty spot beside him.

"He ate a little at lunch, but didn't have anything for breakfast," Jiraiya told Kakashi, who had come over to greet him. Naruto and Sakura were talking to Sasuke, who didn't seem to be replying, but they were forging on.

"I'm surprised he ate at all." Kakashi remembered when his old man had died. Everything had tasted like sand to him for months. He could barely finish his meals back then.

Jiraiya shrugged. "He got hungry."

This routine continued for the next three days. Kakashi was contacted by Sasuke's new legal guardian-his grandfather, Madara Uchiha-and was asked very politely to look after him for a little while longer. His uncle and brother would arrive during the weekend for the funeral, and would pick him up then.

Friday night, Sakura was rifling through the shelf of movies beneath the TV, looking for something to watch. She pulled out _Oliver and Company_, popping it into the VCR and pressing the play button. Naruto and Sakura sat on either side of Sasuke, waiting patiently through the previews. Kakashi had a strange feeling as he looked at them sitting together, like dejà vú. He had seen them all together before, of course, but the feeling didn't stem from that. It was as though he was living something he had dreamed about. He shook his head. Having a kid still had him a little thrown off.

It was Friday, and Naruto was staying over for the night to keep his best friend company, so Jiraiya told him to be good and to mind Kakashi and then departed. Kakashi fished his planner from his workbag and set to organizing his schedule for the weekend and the following week at the kitchen table, adding the Uchiha funeral to his list of events with a heavy heart. The kitchen opened into the living room, so Kakashi was able to keep an eye on the kids while he worked.

Kakashi's thoughts were interrupted by noise. He looked at the couch-Sasuke was hunched over, shaking, Sakura's arms around him protectively, while Naruto looked more lost than he ever had. Sasuke was crying, crying the sort of tears one cries when they have lost the most important people to them in the world. Naruto looked helplessly at Kakashi, who stood up to go and comfort the kids, when he heard Sakura begin to cry too. She hadn't cried since the first day she'd come to live with Kakashi, and now her sobs were filled with the messy, heart-wrenching pain of grief for her friend and grief for herself. Naruto finally threw himself over the two and squeezed his eyes shut.

Kakashi went and kneeled at the foot of the couch, leaning forward to wrap his arms around the three kids. He didn't know how to deal with all of this, how to comfort them, other than to shield them in hopes of dissuading any other cruel misfortune from striking. He was not a religious man, but he wondered anyway what cruel god would let this happen to such undeserving kids.

The next morning, Kakashi woke the slumbering kids up for pancakes. After Sasuke had calmed down, they had decided to build a blanket-fort to sleep in the previous evening, and Kakashi hadn't minded helping with the hard parts pushing the two couches in the living room closer together to make a frame for it. It had seemed to him that they were building a safehouse, something to in which hide away from the world. So after getting breakfast ready, he crawled partially into the small opening that served as an entrance and shook the kids gently awake. Sakura was curled up with Dot under a thick comforter; Sasuke was sleeping on his side. Naruto was splayed out over the pillows and had a foot sticking out of the blanket he was covered with. They were groggy as he got them out of the fort, but after he set plates of food in front of them they gained back their youthful vigor.

Kakashi watched Sasuke. The boy was picking at his food, occasionally eating a bite here and there. That was good. He ended up barely eating half of it by the time breakfast was finished, but it was a start. Considering that he'd found his parents dead only four days ago, it was a miracle that he was willing to eat anything at all.

Sasuke's parents' murder wasn't sitting well with Kakashi. It was disturbing how...explainable it seemed. Fugaku had been cracking down severely on crime in Hidden Leaves: there had been more arrests, more investigations, and more convictions than ever before in the past year. Kakashi ruminated that the murderer could have been associated with that-a disgruntled repeat offender going off the deep end, the relative of a convicted criminal exacting revenge. It was too easy to write it off as small-time vengeance, but there really wasn't any other way to look at it. Hidden Leaves was a small town, albeit succesful thanks to the skiing and snowboarding traffic it got each winter, and murders did not happen as often as they would in the city. The last murder that Kakashi knew of had occurred almost ten years ago.

"Mr. Kakashi!" Naruto bellowed, shaking him from his thoughts. "There's someone here!"

Kakashi went to answer the the door. A familiar face was behind it. "Itachi! I wasn't expecting you this early."

"Hello, Mr. Hatake. May I come in?"

Kakashi stepped aside to let Itachi step over the threshold. Sasuke's older brother was tall for his age, with long black hair that he kept bound back with an elastic band. He was five years older than Sasuke.

"Are you by yourself?" Kakashi asked. Itachi was fairly self-dependent for a twelve-year-old boy, but someone had to have driven him to the house.

"Uncle Obito is waiting in the car," Itachi said, and Kakashi was immediately glad Itachi's uncle had decided to remain there. The last time he and Obito had crossed paths, almost three years ago, they'd beaten each other bloody.

Sakura was the first to look at the newcomer. In her usual way, she immediately yet nonchalantly asked, "Who are you?"

Itachi smiled thinly at her, saying, "I'm Sasuke's big brother."

Upon hearing the familiar voice, Sasuke whirled around in his seat. Kakashi expected him jump down from his seat and run at Itachi, but was proven wrong when Sasuke's face started to contort and turn red. The boy exclaimed "Go away!" before darting into the fort that the three kids had slept in.

"Sasuke!" Itachi exclaimed, hurrying after him. Kakashi followed suit, and the two crouched down at the fort's opening, lifting aside the sheets. Sasuke was hunched over with his back turned to them.

"Sasuke, please come out! Uncle Obito is waiting in the car. We're going to go home. Don't you want to go home?" Itachi pleaded insistently.

"NO!" Sasuke yelled. "GO AWAY!"

"Sasuke, why?" Kakashi said. "Itachi is your brother! Don't you want to see him?"

"No! I hate him!"

Kakashi was shocked. Sasuke had always talked about his brother with the highest admiration, complaining about when he couldn't play with him and bragging about his skipping a grade. What had happened to make him say such a thing about the brother he almost idolized?

The hurt on Itachi's face was visceral, but he persisted. "Okay, Sasuke. That's all right. But you can't stay here. Mr. Hatake has been very kind, but don't you think it's rude to stay when you haven't been invited to? I've come to pick you up. Uncle Obito wants to see you very much."

"I don't _want _Uncle Obito! I want Mom and Dad!"

Kakashi saw Itachi bite his lip. His eyes gleamed with unshed tears. "I'm sorry, Sasuke..."

"What is going on?"

Kakashi and Itachi turned. A man with spiky black hair, not unlike Naruto's, was standing over them. Obito wore a hostile expression when he looked at Kakashi, but he addressed Itachi. "What's the problem?"

"Sasuke refuses to come out," Itachi said.

"Rip that thing down, then."

"Obito, there's no need for that," Kakashi said. "The kids worked hard to put it up."

Obito, frowning, looked over at Naruto and Sakura, who had gotten down from their seats to watch from a safe distance. They were clasping hands from fright.

"Nothing lasts forever," Obito said tersely, reaching the tent in two strides and yanking it away with a snap. Sasuke, now exposed, flinched, pulling his legs even tighter to his chest. "Sasuke, get up. It's time to leave. Stop causing trouble for everyone."

Sasuke sniffed. "Uh-uh. I wanna stay here."

Obito jerked forward, making as if to grab Sasuke by the collar of his shirt, but Kakashi was already on his feet, shoving him back.

"Who the hell do you think you are?!" Obito bellowed, shoving Kakashi back.

"Everyone deals with grief differently, Obito," Kakashi said, his voice dangerously even. He stepped back from Obito, so he wouldn't feel tempted to start throwing punches. "This is your way-let him have his. He can stay here as long as he wants. Don't do something now that you'll regret later...and I'll thank you to watch your tongue in front of my niece."

Sakura looked terrified, hiding behind a kitchen chair while Naruto stood in front of her protectively, his expression fearful but defiant. Obito observed them, and then rolled his shoulders, scowling as he straightened. "Sasuke. I'll let you stay here one more day. Then you'll go home tomorrow with us and your grandpa after the funeral. That's final. Understand?"

The boy nodded, wiping his nose on his wrist. Obito and Itachi retreated to take their leave, but not without the latter looking at his little brother as if he was about to lose something precious.

The next day, almost the entire town showed up for the funeral of the police chief and his wife. In a sea of black-clad bodies, children explored as though deep within a forest, while two closed caskets waited at the front of the chapel to be buried. Sakura, however, was glued to Kakashi's side, obviously distressed. Kakashi was speaking with Sasuke's grandfather Madara, at the side of whom Sasuke was standing listlessly. Naruto was sitting in the seat he had sat in during the eulogies. The death of his best friend's parents had affected him greatly.

"Thank you for taking such good care of my boy, Mr. Hatake," Madara was saying. He was young, for a grandfather-only in his early fifties. He and his late wife had married young and started a family only a few years later. He was a tall, imposing man, with a mane of long black hair and deep-set eyes. His disposition, though, suggested kindness behind his intimidating appearance.

Kakashi had heard stories about the man's early years; apparently he'd been one wild hellion, kicking up trouble when he got bored. There'd been something about a rivalry with the mayor's son, but clearly he had mellowed out, as the two liked to gossip like old women whenever they were within fifty feet of each other. Age and time had shaped Madara into a wiser man.

"We were glad to have him," Kakashi said. "Sakura enjoyed having someone to watch movies with." He ruffled his nervous niece's hair. Madara offered the girl a kind smile, tinged with the sadness of the funereal proceedings. "I'm very sorry for your loss, Mr. Uchiha."

"As am I," Madara said bitterly, "as am I. They deserved better than this. The only comfort I have is that they passed together. Mikoto, I think, is the only person that ever made that grumpy son of mine laugh-and you should have seen they way her eyes sparkled when he did! They couldn't have lived with going separately."

"They loved each other a lot?" Sakura suddenly asked, her high-pitched voice almost demanding their attention. Madara looked at her, brows raised. "Did they love Sasuke and Itachi too?"

"Very much," Madara said, his tone questioning. "More than anyone."

"They loved them?" Sakura asked. "They really and truly loved them?"

Sasuke was staring funnily at her. Madara cast a questioning look at Kakashi, who mouthed, "Later." (He had foregone his surgical mask in respect for the deceased.) Madara kneeled to look Sakura in the eye, resting an elbow on one knee.

"With all of their hearts. Like moms and dads should."

Kakashi couldn't tell what Sakura was thinking behind that pensive expression she wore. Madara obviously couldn't, either, but he patted her head anyway and rose with a little difficulty.

After the recpetion, everyone met back up at the Hatake household. Both boys' things needed to be retrieved, as Naruto had stayed over once again. Obito waited uncomfortably by the door, unwilling to accept any hospitality from Kakashi, while Madara sat serenely on the couch, waiting for his grandson. Itachi had gone to collect Sasuke's belongings from the guest room, as had Jiraiya for Naruto's. Currently the three kids were sitting at the kitchen table.

"Say your goodbyes, Sasuke. We're leaving today, and you won't see them probably for a while," Obito said.

Naruto and Sakura looked stricken, fixing Sasuke with identically upset expressions. In the short while that they'd known each other, somehow the three had made a connection that went deeper than time. Naruto and Sasuke had been friends already, but with the addition of Sakura to their small alliance, it was like a missing puzzle piece had been found, and finally they all fit together perfectly. Sasuke's departure was verging on trauma at that point. The boy was biting his lip, hands clenched together.

"G-Grandpa," he said timidly.

"Hm?" Madara said, looking over his shoulder. "What is it?"

"I-I want to live here!"

His words fell like stones into the center of the room. At any other time, they would not have been taken seriously. But his plea held so much sincerity that Madara was taken aback. Obito was beginning to frown fiercely. Kakashi, from his place by the sink, kept his eyes on the boy. "Sasuke. Don't you want to live with your grandfather?" His tone was serious, every bit as serious as it had been when he had reprimanded his sister for her flippancy only a little more than a week ago.

"No!" he said. "I mean-I'm sorry. But Grandpa-"

Madara was not saying anything. His expression remained neutral.

"Mr. Hatake said I can stay here as long as I want," Sasuke finally insisted weakly.

Madara leveled a look at Kakashi. "Did you?"

"I did," Kakashi admitted. "Although I didn't quite mean it like _that._"

Obito finally lost his temper. "What did I tell you yesterday, Sasuke?! I said that my decision was _final. _You will _not _be living in the same house as Kakashi Hatake! I understand that you're unhappy, but you're being ridiculous and selfish. Don't you think that we might want you to be with us? With your _family?_"

Sasuke scowled and looked down into his lap, saying nothing. Obito continued his tirade.

"We're all sad, Sasuke! You're _not_ the only one that lost someone! Do you think that your father would want you to live _here?_ You belong with your family! You belong with people who love you-"

"_I _love Sasuke!" Sakura cried indignantly, derailing Obito. Sasuke looked up, his eyes wide. "Just because-just because somebody's family doesn't mean they love you!" Sakura exclaimed.

"It's none of your business-be quiet!" Obito snarled.

"Obito," Kakashi began dangerously, only to find himself being interrupted by Madara.

"Watch your mouth, son," he growled, his brows set angrily. Obito checked himself, letting out a short _tch_ of frustration and turning his gaze to the side. Madara got up and walked to the kitchen table. "You love my grandson, Sakura?" he asked her gently.

Sakura turned bright pink, but persisted, "Uh-huh. And Naruto. And Uncle Kakashi, and Mr. Jiraiya, a little bit."

"Just a little?" interjected Jiraiya, having descended the stairs. He had Naruto's backpack slung over one broad shoulder. Sakura squeaked, but Jiraiya winked to show her that it was okay. "What's all the fuss?" he asked-but his question went unanswered. Madara eyed the trio pensively, as if mentally taking apart a machine to see how it worked.

"Kakashi," he said suddenly. "As long as he wants?"

Hyperaware that a paradigm shift was about to occur, Kakashi nodded. "I didn't think that he was going to want to be here longer than a few days or a week at most, but yes. As long as he wants." Madara grunted in acknowledgement and went back to studying the trio.

"Sasuke, are you sure?" Madara asked finally, regarding the boy very seriously.

Sasuke nodded, almost defiantly, fists clenched in his lap.

Madara put his hands on his hips. "You know, I can't help but think it's a good idea. Sasuke needs to be around kids his age. He doesn't need to be surrounded by sad old folk. And it would be better for him if he didn't have to go through such a huge change..." he was mostly talking to himself by then. "Kakashi, how would you feel about partial custody?"

Kakashi straightened. "Whatever you feel comfortable with, Mr. Uchiha." Madara nodded approvingly.

"I'll take care of the legal issues," he said. "You just take care of my boy. And call me Madara-if we're going to be family, you might as well."

"Don't worry, Mr. Uchiha, we'll take care of him!" Sakura exclaimed, pushing herself up from her chair in excitement. Madara smiled at her.

"Dad, what are you-" Obito exclaimed, only to be silenced by the look Madara directed at him.

"Wait," Naruto said. "Sasuke's gonna live here? I WANNA LIVE HERE TOO!"

_"Naruto,"_ Jiraiya grumbled. Kakashi had forgotten he was there.

"I don't wanna go to England, old man! I wanna stay here! All my friends are here!" Naruto cried. Kakashi started rubbing the bridge of his nose. For some reason, he had a feeling that he was about to get more than he bargained for. Way, _way_ more.

"Naruto, you can't just _ask_ to live in someone's house!" Jiraiya said, beginning his attempt to cajole his godson into cooperation.

"Sasuke just did, and Mr. Madara said it was okay!" Naruto whined. "Why can't I live here?"

Jiraiya grimaced. "Well-who would keep me company in England? And-and-Kakashi hasn't said it's okay!"

Naruto turned to Kakashi, his blue eyes sparkling in a way that made Kakashi hear the sound of shackles being snapped closed.

Despite this sense of foreboding, he grinned, and the thought _go big or go home_ flashed across his mind. "What the heck. The more the merrier! Does anyone else have any kids that want to live with me? I may need to renovate."

Only Madara had to snuffle a chortle. Obito looked livid. Itachi chose this moment to come back downstairs, toting a small blue backpack. "What's going on?" he asked, looking around. His gaze settled on his little brother. "Sasuke, what's the matter?" The boy had resumed scowling and was refusing to look at him.

"Your brother has decided to remain in Hidden Leaves," Obito said curtly. "And your grandfather has consented to it."

Hurt flashed across Itachi's face, but he did not question his grandfather, nor his brother. He simply walked over to Sasuke and embraced him, though the boy remained motionless and unresponsive. When he pulled away, Sasuke refused to look at him. Troubled, Kakashi made a mental note to dig deeper when the time was right, and refocused on the current situation.

Jiraiya had to drag a complaining Naruto out of the house, but Kakashi knew that he would be back. The man didn't want to make Naruto miserable, but that position in Cambridge was a prestigious one-a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. He would eventually give in to Naruto's plea, because in the end Jiraiya wanted his godson to be happy. Kakashi was already settling into the idea of raising three children.

Sasuke saw his last remaining family off, and then fixed his attention on Kakashi-the look in his eyes much older than his handful of seven years. And Sakura-well, she was positively glowing with happiness.

Over the course of the next few weeks, Kakashi finalized the change in his lifestyle. He, Sakura, and Sasuke explored Hidden Treasures, the town's only resale store, and found a large bunk bed, the bottom bunk of which Sakura immediately claimed, saying it reminded her of the secret cave in _The Little Mermaid_. Kakashi bought a few sets of bedsheets, and a _lot _of extra towels. He made sure to find a timer, too-he knew that someday soon, someone was going to complain about someone else taking too long in the bathroom.

Sasuke returned to school. He and Sakura would enter their classroom together, and at the end of the day they would leave accompanied by Naruto, whose boisterous personality balanced out Sasuke and Sakura's quieter ones. Naruto and Sasuke's bickering picked up again after a while, but this time Sakura was there to mediate (and she usually picked Sasuke's side, as she seemed to have appointed herself his guardian angel). When not at school, they would play together outside the house and at the nearby playground, often with the other kids that lived on their street. Sasuke did not return to being the smiling boy he once was, as Kakashi had predicted-his new scars ran too deep for that. And he would not speak of his brother, when Sakura or Naruto asked about him. But he was sleeping, and he was eating, and Kakashi, from experience, knew that he was going to be okay.

The date of Jiraiya's departure looming, the man finally consented to Naruto's living in the Hatake household. Jiraiya wouldn't let the kids see it, but he was torn up about the decision, having shed tears when he had asked Kakashi to take him on. He trusted Kakashi to care for his energetic godson, but the thought of leaving the boy behind broke his heart nevertheless. Kakashi helped Jiraiya pack up the remainder of his belongings, while the kids ran around underfoot, and when the day came for Tsunade, Jiraiya's old drinking buddy, to drive him to the airport, Naruto and Sakura were bawling while Sasuke stood by awkwardly. Jiraiya hugged each of them, holding Naruto the longest and the tightest, while tears rolled down his tanned face.

At the very end of September, Kakashi welcomed Naruto into his household. The boy was surprisingly quiet about it-Kakashi knew that he was in that stage of happiness that needed no words, despite having said goodbye to his godfather only a little while earlier.

Kakashi asked Sakura the Sunday night before they were all to go to school together for the first time if she wanted to move into his office. He didn't mind the possibility of transforming it into her room, as lately he had been doing all of his work at the kitchen table, while keeping an eye on the children he already referred to as his kids. But Sakura surprised him.

"No, I like having a room with Sasuke and Naruto," she replied simply. "They're my brothers."

Kakashi persisted. "Are you sure? I don't mind cleaning out the office for you, sweet girl."

"Uh-uh. I don't wanna be by myself."

Kakashi considered her words, and ruffled her hair. "Whatever you want, Sakura. The offer always stands."

The next morning, Kakashi got the three ready for school for the first time. Sakura, he already knew, was extremely difficult to wake up, as she was particularly susceptible to the lure of deep sleep, but once she was awake she got ready easily enough. Sasuke would wake up the second Kakashi opened the door to their shared room, sitting up and rubbing his bleary eyes, his messy black hair standing on end. He was sulf-sufficient, brushing his hair and teeth without having to be reminded. Naruto, appropriately, woke up quickly and only gained momentum.

With their hair brushed, their backpacks packed, their lunches made, and their bellies full of breakfast, Kakashi strapped them into his car and drove to the elementary school. All four walked down the halls together, Naruto and Sakura running slightly ahead for fun, and parted only to reach their separate destinations.

As the trio made to enter Iruka's classroom, Kakashi called out to them. "Have a good day, you three!"

Sakura smiled brightly; Sasuke nodded. Naruto grinned and waved wildly. Kakashi mirrored his grin.

His hair was gray, but he was not old. He still wore his surgical mask, but he kept his novels hidden away now, for the quieter moments of his days. He had no girlfriends, but now, he had kids. He was no longer living as he had, and he was still grieving for the loss of his wayward charge's parents; he still harbored deep disgust for his sister's lack of concern for the welfare of her daughter. But he was happy. Despite all that, he was happy.

**A/N:** The idea for this story came from "It's this Feeling that You Can't Fight." I was writing it as a single chapter, but it took on a life of its own very quickly. I have always seen several similarities between the HP trio and Tea m Seven, so it is only fitting that I dedicate a story such a strong connection. This is the largest project I have taken on to date. I hope I can do both Harry Potter and Naruto justice.


	2. The Sorcerer's Stone, Age Eleven, 1998

**A/N: **Without any further ado, here is chapter one of The Golden Trio. I hope almost eleven thousand words can make up for the lateness...

Four years had passed since three remarkably complex children had come into the life of Kakashi Hatake, and in the span of four years the abnormality of his living arrangement had become an accepted part of everyday life. Mrs. Yamanaka liked to water her orchids under a full moon; Kakashi was guardian to three kids even though he was not their primary option.

Naruto Uzumaki, the youngest by seven months, was the rambunctious one who liked to make trouble, and Sakura Haruno, the authoritative oldest one, was usually the one to keep him in line. She deferred, though, to Sasuke Uchiha, the standoffish middle kid, who almost everyone could tell she held in high regard. Naruto's godfather Jiraiya visited once or twice a year from the United Kingdom; Sasuke's relatives from Arizona visited for major holidays. Sakura's parents remained absent, and sightings of them, much like sightings of Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster, were met with disbelief and quiet derision.

The trio was in the sixth grade, attending Hidden Leaves Junior High with the same classmates they had gone to elementary school with. Sasuke, aloof and good-looking for an eleven-year-old boy, was already a popular amongst his female schoolmates, and Naruto, ever jealous of his brother's fame, sook attention through mischief, and usually got it. Sakura just tried to balance out dealing with her brothers with maintaining her grades-she was uncommonly smart, and already looking to be an honors student.

The three were well-fed, well-cared for, and well-liked, and for the most part they thrived. They enjoyed the camaraderie of their friends and the companionship of their odd little family.

There was always the shadow, however, of the past trailing behind them, lurking in the dark corners of consciousness. Sasuke still saw his parents in his dreams, laying facedown on their old kitchen floor with blood clotting on the backs of their heads. Sakura still watched the front door of her house, waiting for her parents to walk in. And Naruto-Naruto hid his sadness away, beneath an armor forged of boisterous activity. Their demons still plagued them.

It was the Friday after Thanksgiving, and Kakashi had brought the trio to Loose Leaf, the town bookstore, to search for subject material for their upcoming reading projects. The aisles were warm thanks to the heaters on full-blast overhead and the crowd of bodies out hunting for Black Friday deals. It was a challenge for one to maneuver these aisles-unless, that is, one was an eleven-year-old.

Sakura was scanning the children's section with her brothers, eyeing books with a critical gaze. Kakashi always told her never to judge a book by its cover, but that didn't mean she couldn't judge them by their titles. So far there weren't many interesting-looking ones. She looked at the watch around her wrist, a birthday present Naruto's godfather Jiraiya had sent all the way from England. It was white leather with a pink face and silvery numbers and hands. Sakura wanted to go back home, but if she didn't pick a book she wouldn't be able to do her project, and then she wouldn't get a good grade, and then she wouldn't be able to go into honors English...

It was then that Naruto exclaimed, "I found it!"

Sakura and Sasuke turned away from the shelves to look at their youngest sibling. Sakura inquired, "Found what, Naruto?"

"The book I'm reading! It's _Harry Potter!" _He was pointing upwards at a row of books with gold lettering. Sasuke, the tallest (by a measely two centimeters, Naruto would always point out), reached up and plucked a copy off of the shelf. They examined the cover together: a boy with glasses was riding a broomstick through a stone arch, a purple-and-pink night sky and an extensive castle and forest in the background.

It looked really interesting. It looked, in fact, exactly like something Sakura would curl up with on the armchair in their upstairs loft for hours. She wasn't about to say as much, though, as she disliked agreeing with the rowdier of her two brothers. So she simply said, "It looks okay."

Naruto gaped at her. "_Okay? _It looks amazing! I don't know where you got your taste in books, Sakura, but it sucks."

Sakura narrowed her eyes at him, noticing Sasuke as he handed off the book to Naruto and picked another copy off the shelf, reading the summary on the inside flap. She watched him intently, searching for any mite of an expression. She would discover them from time to time, like when they played baseball in the street and he hit a home run, or when Uncle Kakashi made spaghetti for dinner. They were invisible to everyone else, save Naruto (and, she sometimes thought, Kakashi), and it was because of his lack of visual emotion that he visited a counselor every week, and had been doing so since a particularly stressful episode three months after his moving into the Hatake house. He had hidden in the attic and wouldn't allow anyone, not even Naruto or Sakura, to come near him. Sakura kept careful watch now, as she had always done since then, of what her brother decided to reveal-and what he let slip.

She was happy now with her discovery. There was interest in his imperceptible expression, in the tiny curvature of his brows and the softening of his usually-tight lips. Naruto noticed only a moment after her, and grinned smugly. She knew, then, that Sasuke also had decided on the book he wanted to read.

"All right, fine!" she exclaimed, pulling down a copy for herself. "We'll _all_ read it. And I'll finish before _both _of you."

"Nuh-uh!" Naruto retorted. "I'm gonna finish first, just you wait!"

Sasuke merely snorted.

The three of them ran back to Kakashi, who hastily hid the book _he_ had chosen in the crook of his elbow. Sakura bit back her snicker before it could escape. Like they didn't know he read stupid romance books already. The trio presented their own books to him for approval.

"The same book?" he asked, rubbing his chin through his mask. Sakura had outgrown questioning its presence, though it seemed to unnerve tourists when they saw him in town. That was probably Kakashi's intent, she reflected, as he _was _kind of weird.

"Yup!" Naruto and Sakura chorused, with Sasuke nodding in agreement.

"I guess that's okay. No cheating off one another, though," Kakashi warned as an afterthoought. The four of them waited in the long line to check out, and then piled into Kakashi's car, shivering together as they waited for the heater to stop pouring out cold air. The drive home was quiet, with the trio gazing eagerly through the frosty windows at the frozen scenery. Houses were blanketed with white, and every now and then a neighbor could be seen bundled in flannel and fleece and shoveling a driveway. Some people were already putting up Christmas lights.

Upon their arrival home, the four bustled inside hurriedly, shedding their layers and stomping their boots to shake off the snow. Jiraiya, who had arrived a few days earlier for Thanksgiving, was sitting on the couch in the living room, his feet propped up on the coffee table, reading one of Kakashi's novels.

The members and the guest of the Hatake household ate a lunch of leftover Thanksgiving turkey (Sakura made faces all throughout the meal, as she still hated turkey with an all-consuming passion) and mashed potatos, and looked around for something to do inside, as the general consesus concluded that it was too cold to play outdoors and not nearly snowy enough to make up for it. Kakashi got to work on organizing worksheets for his Kindergarten class, and Jiraiya retreated to the office to labor over his newest manuscript. Sakura decided to reread her music book, wanting to save _The Sorcerer's Stone_ for later, and settled into her bunk in the trio's shared room, her stuffed rabbit Dot at her side. Meanwhile, her brothers decided on their own methods of entertainment: Sasuke chose to read his copy of _Harry Potter_ for school, and Naruto, after the morning's excitement, unceremoniously nodded off on the loft sofa for a nap.

When Sasuke read that Harry's parents had been murdered, he had to put the book down.

It was too familiar: a boy being handed off to unfamiliar relatives after the brutal death of his kind, loving parents...four years ago was flashing across his mind as he resumed reading with intense, determined concentration-walking into his house, the door already open for him. His own voice, announcing his arrival, met with a choking silence. His parents, slumped on the floor, little puddles of red drying on the kitchen tile-_NO. _

That wasn't this world. Harry wasn't Sasuke. Sasuke's parents had been shot-Harry's had been hit with some sort of magical curse. He wouldn't see himself in _Harry Potter. _He wouldn't.

Sasuke couldn't help but notice, though, as he read the end of the first chapter, a peculiar similarity: just like Harry, Sasuke had been spirited to his new home by a giant man with a great bush of wild hair.

Sasuke put the book down once again. He had a choice to make, an important one. He would either let his memories rule him, or he would rule them. He couldn't let them ruin a good book like he suspected _Harry Potter _to be. So he forged on, scowling as if it took physical effort to beat his past back. Once he reached the second chapter, it got a lot easier, and a lot more enjoyable.

Sasuke spent his entire afternoon reading. Harry's wizarding world was fascinating. Sasuke could picture Diagon Alley vividly, from the screech of owls to the multicolored robes swirling as witches and wizards went in and out of stores. The Ollivander's part of Diagon Alley in particular was the most interesting to Sasuke-he wondered, what kind of wand would choose him?

Suddenly he heard Kakashi calling his name from the foot of the staircase, announcing dinnertime. Sasuke didn't want to leave his book-but the rumble of his stomach made the thought of food more appealing, and anyway the book would still be there.

It was probably going to be turkey again. Sakura would probably push hers around on her plate more than she would actually eat it. Maybe he could steal a bit off her plate for her-he didn't mind turkey.

After supper, which consisted of leftovers as he had predicted, Sasuke went back upstairs, perching on his bed to read more of _The Sorceror's Stone. _He didn't realize how engrossed he was until he jumped at the sudden click of the door; Sakura entered, having beaten Naruto to the bathroom, her odd pink hair shining with dampness and her cheeks rosy. She smiled at Sasuke when their eyes met, and he bobbed his head in greeting.

"Is it good?" she asked curiously, her eyes on the book in his hands as she climbed onto his bed and crossed her legs to sit. He nodded again, ignoring her invasion of his personal space. Had she been anyone else, save for Naruto, he would have glared until she backed off. Sakura was always being extra friendly, and though it had bothered him in the beginning, he'd gotten used to it. It was just her way. She lifted the paper book-cover he had set aside for safekeeping and surveyed its design. "The cover's really pretty. Do you like it, Sasuke?"

He shrugged. He thought it was okay, but the story was much more interesting. He turned his attention back to the book, while Sakura bounced off the bed and scampered to her own bunk, pulling closed the curtain that Kakashi had hung up for her. She had seen a canopied bed on a television commercial once, and had talked about it for days until Kakashi had suggested they do something similar to her own bed. Kakashi liked to indulge his niece, Sasuke noticed.

Naruto bounded into the room a little while later, hair dripping, followed by the adult in question. "Sasuke," he said, "it's your turn for a bath, kiddo."

Sasuke glanced at his book, and then looked around for something to mark his place. He didn't want to bend the page. Kakashi picked up a piece of paper from the floor, folding it into sixths. "This ought to do for now," he said, the corners of his eyes crinkling as he smiled. He wasn't wearing his mask-Sasuke had already figured out that when at home, his guardian almost never would. It was only when they all went out. He guessed Kakashi was afraid of germs or something.

Sakura pulled back her curtain, sitting on the edge of her bed expectantly. Her uncle sat beside her, hunching so he wouldn't hit his head on Naruto's bunk, and began to gently pull a comb through her long pink locks. He did this every night, and Sasuke could remember when Kakashi had started to do it-it had been the Thanksgiving of the year they all started living together. Sakura had been hoping fervently that her mother and father would arrive to celebrate, but dinner had ended and they'd never came. She'd cried after that, and Kakashi had directed her to go take a bath, but to leave her hair untouched aside from drying it with a towel. Bewildered, she had done so. When she finished, Kakashi had beckoned her into the room she shared with her brothers and had proceeded to comb her hair himself. Sasuke didn't understand how that had helped, but the next night Kakashi did it again, and again on the night after that, and before long Sakura stopped talking about her parents almost completely.

Sasuke hurriedly bathed and brushed his teeth, running his fingers through his short hair to neaten it. The hot water was almost gone, and he would've griped at Naruto for it, but when he returned to where he had left off in _Harry Potter _he forgot all about it. When he finally had to put the book down to go to sleep, flying brooms were racing through his head.

The next morning, Sakura began _The Sorceror's Stone. _

She woke up early, laying for a moment in her covers, underneath the glow-in-the-dark stars she'd pasted to the underside of Naruto's bunk, listening to her brothers' soft, easy breathing. The curtains around her bed hung still in the quietness. Under her comforter, it was warm and cozy, and she was half-tempted to simply turn over on her stomach and fall back asleep. But she made herself sit up.

The day before had been one of the few times that Sasuke had ever shown so much interest in anything, not counting the field trip that their fifth grade class had taken to the Hidden Leaves Fire Station. He had spent almost his entire day reading his book, and Sakura wanted to know what had been good enough to enrapture him so.

Sasuke stirred as she dug under her bed for her copy of _The Sorceror's Stone_. When she turned to see him watching her, only half-awake, she smiled and mouthed _good morning _before climbing back into her bunk and pulling the curtain closed so he could go back to sleep.

By the end of the first chapter she had goosebumps. The boy who lived, You-Know-Who, magic, owls, colorful cloaks and people that could become cats-no wonder Sasuke was so interested it it! She excitedly turned to the next chapter, eager to go on.

However the click of the doorknob turning signaled Kakashi's arrival. Sakura hurriedly folded the corner of the page and hid the book under her pillow, laying back down and closing her eyes. She heard him greet Sasuke first; if her brother had remained awake or fallen back asleep after she disturbed him she didn't know. The metal rings of her curtain clinked as her uncle pulled it back, and he shook her shoulder.

"Time to wake up, sweet girl," he murmured.

She made a show of slowly opening her eyes and blinking. "Mornin'...Uncle Kakashi," she said mock-sluggishly.

"Good morning, Sakura," he replied cheerfully. "It's time for breakfast. Jiraiya is making pancakes."

She sat up and stretched, taking _The Sorcerer's Stone_ out from under her pillow. It hadn't made a very comfortable cushion.

After breakfast, she dressed and brushed her teeth, and then settled into the armchair in the loft with her book. Did the Dursleys tell Harry about his magical heritage? Did he know that You-Know-Who had given him his lightning bolt scar? Had Hagrid visited him? The giant man had seemed so desolate at leaving Harry-she couldn't imagine that he would never come to see him.

Six pages into chapter two, The Vanishing Glass, Sakura was frowning in distress. The Dursleys were so cruel! They were all that Harry had-the only people he could call family-didn't they understand that? Why did they hate Harry just for being there? Why were they so worried that he would mess up the lives they led-

At that point Sakura had to put the book down. She couldn't focus. She remembered being left alone in hotel rooms for days at a time, with hired nannies that disappeared when they went to another city, another client, another job. They always told her not to cause trouble: _"Don't make the nanny have to call us while we're busy!"_ And when the nanny _did _have to call, she was always punished severely-locked into bathrooms or deprived meals. Once, her father had slapped her so hard she'd gotten a black eye, and her mother had told everyone that had asked that she'd fallen down a flight of stairs. They'd rarely noticed when she got sick-and she'd gotten sick fairly often. She hadn't known why that was, until she'd come to live with her uncle; he'd told her that she was malnourished, which meant she hadn't been eating enough, _and _that there were things he called "shots" that she had never been given.

Sakura fought with herself to push her memories down, to seal them away in the box they had escaped. She wanted to keep reading. If Sasuke, who surely was affected by the killing of Lily and James Potter, could already be on chapter five, like he told her, then she could get there too. She wouldn't let herself think of her parents or of forgotten birthdays or Christmases without presents. Only of owls, of magic, of the boy who lived.

On Sunday, Naruto gave in and started _The Sorceror's Stone._

It was snowing outside, and Kakashi had told the trio to stay indoors for the day, as it looked like a storm was coming. Naruto couldn't find anything to do, save for his homework.

It wasn't that he didn't want to do it-really! He just thought it would be fair to give his siblings a head start.

But from the moment he read the first page, he wondered why he had put it off for so long. How could he have been so _stupid? _Quite possibly, he decided, _The Sorcerer's Stone_ was the best book he'd ever read. He was only a few pages in, and he was already hooked.

Naruto found that he could relate to Harry Potter; like the young wizard, he had never known his parents. They had died in a car crash, colliding with a truck that had skidded on the then-frozen Colorado highway. Naruto could barely remember them-he had still been only a baby. He recalled soft singing, and flashes of red and gold, but nothing more.

At the part where Harry was being Sorted, Naruto decided that if was he a Hogwarts first-year, he'd want to be in Gryffindor the most. It sounded like the best house, to him-he liked to think of himself as the bravest person he knew. He was the only one who had the guts to pull pranks on teachers, after all. Sakura would probably go into Ravenclaw. She got the best grades in their class. Sasuke, Naruto thought with a sneer, could go straight into stinking Slytherin.

Everyone seemed to love Harry. He was The Boy Who Lived-he'd defeated the evil wizard Voldemort when he'd been only a baby. He was famous! Naruto half-wished he could be famous like that. The most he could claim was that his classmates automatically looked at him when teachers shrieked at a rubber cockroach or a tack on their chair. Stupid Sasuke was famous already-with _girls_. Even Sakura appeared to prefer him to Naruto.

Remembering his sister, Naruto got up from the chair in the loft and scampered to their bedroom. "Sakura!" he cried, bursting in. "How far are you?!"

"Naruto, be quiet!" Sakura exclaimed, poking her head out from behind her curtains. Sasuke was reclining on his bed, _The Sorcerer's Stone_ sitting open and upright on his stomach. "And I'm first feast of the year."

"Feast? There's a _feast?_" Naruto said excitedly. "Where? What's it like?"

He got walloped in the face with a pillow, courtesy of Sasuke. "Read it yourself, Dummy."

"Don't call me dummy, stupid!" Naruto cried hotly.

"Don't call me stupid, dummy!" Sasuke shot back.

"Shut up and let me read!" Sakura exclaimed, yanking her curtains closed.

"Because nearly everyone has chosen the same book, I do hope you realize that I will be grading your projects far more stringently."

The class groaned in unison. It was Monday morning, and Sasuke was in his English class with Mr. Ebisu. Naruto and Sakura didn't have English until later, so he was alone in his misery, save for Hinata Hyuuga, who lived on their street. It wasn't that he disliked the subject itself...just the teacher. Ebisu liked the same romance series that Kakashi was always reading, only he was a lot shiftier about it. It made him seem like a hypocrite.

It appeared that almost all of his classmates had chosen _The Sorcerer's Stone_. That was only going to make it harder to get a good grade, but Sasuke wasn't worried. He always did perfectly in the end. He was more irritated with the fact that he was reading the same book as everyone else-he looked like he was following some trend, and he hated that.

After school, the trio went to their favorite neighborhood spot-the playground. They didn't do much playing on it anymore, but they still liked to sit on the swings and talk, or sometimes go exploring in the small wooded area beyond the slide. When they were younger they pretended that they were travelers on a quest and that the wood was a giant forest filled with elves and magic, but lately they just liked to climb the trees that could hold them up. After reading _The Sorcerer's Stone, _Sasuke thought that the trees could be the Forbidden Forest.

"Hermione is my favorite," Sakura said, kicking at the ground with her feet to make the merry-go-round they were sitting on spin. "She's really smart, smarter than the boys."

"Hermione's a killjoy!" Naruto exclaimed. "Fred and George are the best! I wish they were _my _brothers. Hermione's so _boring._"

"Who do you like the most, Sasuke?" Sakura asked, pointedly ignoring Naruto's jibe. Sasuke looked up from the ground.

"I like Harry," he said simply. He didn't feel like explaining anything further. He noticed Sakura's intent scrutinization and refused to meet her eyes, turning his gaze back to the dirt.

"Harry's really cool," she finally agreed. "He has green eyes, which makes him even better."

"Will you shut up about green eyes, Sakura?" Naruto griped. Lately she had spent extra time in the bathroom admiring her eyes in the mirror, and she only liked to wear clothes that she felt went best with their color.

"You're just mad because Itachi said my eyes were pretty and didn't say anything about _yours."_

Sasuke stiffened. Was _that _why Sakura was so obsessed? The thought put a bad taste in his mouth.

"When are Gramps and Obito and Itachi coming, anyway?" Naruto asked, oblivious to Sasuke's discomfort.

"Three weeks," Sasuke said shortly, interrupting Sakura. Naruto whined with disappointment. Unlike Sasuke, he looked forward to the Uchihas' visits.

Sakura apparently had noticed Sasuke's mood. "Why do you call Madara grandpa, Naruto?" she asked, changing the subject. "He's not your grandpa, he's Sasuke's."

"Gramps said I could," Naruto said petulantly. "I asked, ya know! It's not like he told me not to or anything."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Well, maybe Sasuke doesn't like it." She looked at him, and he shrugged.

Sakura regarded him thoughtfully, and he had to look away. It made him uncomfortable, her staring. It was like she was trying to solve a math equation written on his forehead-and often she solved them too easily for his liking. He didn't like to express his thoughts and emotions like Naruto did, so when Sakura figured them out so easily it felt like his armor was being torn away.

In truth Sasuke cared little for his real family. Obito never showed any interest in him aside from comparing him to his father Fugaku, which made Sasuke uncomfortable. Madara-well, Madara wasn't so bad, but deep within himself, in a place that he tried his best to deny the existence of, he resented his grandfather for agreeing to leave Sasuke in Konoha so cheerily. And as for his brother...even the _thought_ of Itachi made his blood boil.

"I'm hungry!" Naruto whined suddenly, drawing Sasuke from his thoughts. "Let's go home. I bet Kakashi's making pasta for dinner!"

The trio made the long trek back to Number Seven, and unfortunately Kakashi was not making pasta-he was making turkey pot pie. Sakura's face screwed up in disgust upon smelling it, and she retreated to their bedroom in protest after they ate. Sasuke followed her to get his book, and then spent the rest of the evening reading.

Over the next few weeks, the trio's anticipation of Christmas grew larger and larger. Soon it was the last day of school before the break, and their homeroom class was having a party. They'd exchanged Secret Santa gifts already, and Sakura was glad that the book _Fabre's Book of Insects, _her present for her classmate Shino Aburame,had been so appreciated by its recipient. He'd gone to his desk to start reading it immediately. Shy Hinata Hyuuga, who lived on her street, had presented her with a packet of ribbons for her hair; Sakura was very pleased.

It was a nice party, Sakura thought-the room was decorated with tinsel and Christmas lights, and there was even a little tree that everyone had brought ornaments with which to decorate it. They'd had a small class contest to see who got to bring the tree-topper; Ino Yamanaka had won, and brought the gaudiest angel that Sakura had ever seen. She very much preferred the topper on her own tree at home: a silvery-gold metal star with glass accenting that sent shattered light onto the ceiling when the tree was all aglow.

If she were perfectly honest, Christmas was Sakura's favorite time of year. There were presents and candy, of course-but there were also bright colors and snow angels, and card games with Jiraiya and Madara, and Christmas movies with her brothers, and baking cookies with Itachi. The house was alive with people. And there were snowball fights with the neighborhood kids, and visits from Tsunade Senju, an old friend of Jiraiya's, who was beautiful, intimidating, and, Sakura thought, one-of-a-kind.

"I asked that woman to marry me when we graduated high school," Jiraiya had confided in Sakura once. "She shot me down flat." At that he had smiled drolly. "Told me that if she married me it would be the last thing she'd ever do." Sakura must have looked distressed at that point, because Jiraiya suddenly reassured her, "It wasn't like she hated me that much! She thought she couldn't go anywhere if she was hitched to someone, that's all. And I think she might have had a crush on some other guy..."

"Where does Miss Tsunade go?" Sakura had asked. It was rare to see the woman in town, and whenever she arrived she brought stories with her that spoke of the best adventure there was. She was usually accompanied by another, younger woman-named Shizune Kato-who appeared to be more or less her personal assistant. While Tsunade had a happy-go-lucky attitude, Shizune always seemed rather frazzled.

"Oh, here and there," Jiraiya had said. "She's not one to stay in one place, that Tsunade. Wants to see the world before she dies."

"Does she have a house?" Sakura had pressed. "I want my own house when I grow up."

Jiraiya had smiled, and ruffled her hair. "The whole world is her house, kid! That's probably what she'd say. I think she feels like having a house would tie her down to one place."

Sakura admired Tsunade, but she personally thought that not having a house would be the worst thing in the world. She'd lived the first seven years of her life without a house-she would know.

The first Saturday of Christmas break heralded the arrival of the Uchiha family at Hidden Leaves. They were to stay at Sasuke's parents' old house, and would come over to Kakashi's during the day. They'd made a routine of it over the years-arriving after breakfast, staying past lunch, and leaving before dinner until Christmas day. Then they'd come bringing presents and stay well into the night, even after Sakura and her brothers had gone to sleep.

During the first year of Sasuke's living in the Hatake household, there had been a heated debate between Obito and Kakashi over where Sasuke would spend the holidays. Obito was adamant that Sasuke come to Arizona-where he, Itachi, and Madara lived-for Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Spring breaks. Kakashi would not hear of it. He maintained that Sasuke needed his siblings-at which Obito had scoffed. Madara, with an air of annoyance, had ended the argument simply by reminding them whose choice it really was and asking Sasuke what he wanted. Naturally, Sasuke wanted nothing to do with Obito's plan.

So Madara cheerfully kept the tradition of making the yearly pilgrimage to Hidden Leaves.

At the house, Jiraiya and Madara greeted each other with gusto, embracing one another like brothers, while Kakashi exchanged pleasantries with Itachi, who was now sixteen years old. Itachi was taller and handsomer than Sakura remembered, and when he glanced at her with a small smile she could feel her heart practically melt. She scampered over to where he was and hugged him around the middle. He responded by squeezed her shoulders affectionately.

When she went to sit back on the couch with Sasuke, her brother was scowling at her.

"What?" she asked primly, pretending that she couldn't feel the warm blush spreading across her face.

"Nothing," Sasuke said curtly, and turned his attention back to the TV without another word.

After exchanging pleasantries, the adults began to make dinner. Kakashi sent Sakura and Naruto out to get the mail, as they were getting underfoot. Sasuke had retreated to their room to read, so they decided not to bother him.

"How far are you in _The Sorcerer's Stone_, Naruto?" Sakura asked as they plodded down the snow-covered sidewalk.

"I'm at Harry's first flying lesson," Naruto reported happily.

Sakura smirked triumphantly. "I'm at Harry's first Christmas at Hogwarts," she said. "I'd keep going, but I don't want to leave it before our Christmas is over." She wanted to make sure her own Christmas was just as magical as Harry's, but she kept that to herself. "He gets so many cool presents, you wouldn't believe it..."

"I hope we get lots of chocolate this year!" Naruto said excitedly, his blue eyes sparkling. Sakura's eyes widened in surprise-Harry had gotten a lot of chocolate himself: fudge from Mrs. Weasely, Chocolate Frogs from Hermione...she grinned suddenly, and nudged Naruto's shoulder with her own, laughing.

"What?" Naruto asked. "What did I do?"

The neighborhood mailbox had recently been cleared of snow, but frost still clung to the locks, and so the two struggled to get the key to turn. Naruto had the idea to hold the key between his hands, inside his jacket, in the hopes that it would warm up enough to melt through the ice. Sakura was skeptical of the notion, but they got the tumblers to align in any case. They retrieved the mail, and started walking back to the house. Sakura was rifling through the catalogs and postcards when a familiar name caught her eye. She halted, standing completely still, the rest of the mail fluttering to the ground as she held an envelope in both hands. The return address was written in flowing, elegant script, labeled _Mr. and Mrs. Kizashi Haruno._ Sakura tore open the envelope, ignoring Naruto's cry of indignition, and eagerly scanned the expensive-looking stationary.

_Dear Kakashi,_

_I hope everything is going well where you are. Kizashi and I are in the Bahamas, and the weather is quite warm. We are almost done with Apple-they've been in decline during the recent years, but I think we've got them in a place to make a huge comeback. Ah, but you didn't hear that from me!_

_Anyway we've decided to stay here on the island for the holidays, God know's it's too cold on the mainland. We've enclosed some money for you to purchase a present for Sakura, to make up for our absence. Have a wonderful Christmas and a happy New Year._

_Best Regards,_

_Mebuki Haruno_

A hundred-dollar bill was paperclipped to the end of the letter.

Naruto's voice cut through the silence of the winter air. "Sakura? A-are you okay? You look kind of...weird. Hey, is that money?"

Sakura looked up at him, grinning suddenly. "I'm fine! Let's go home. I bet lunch's almost ready!"

They began to walk back in silence, her smile fading with every step. Sakura reached out and took her brother's mitten-clad hand-something she hadn't done since they were kids-and held it tightly.

Back at the house, she cheerfully handed Kakashi the mail, and then said she was going to go upstairs to read a little. She went back to the room she shared with her brothers, crawled onto her bed, and opened _The Sorceror's Stone _to where she had left off, just in the middle of Christmas dinner at Hogwarts. She ignored Sasuke's questioning look, and stared intensely at the words on the page.

Harry went exploring after dinner in his new invisibility cloak and, after a run-in with Filch and Snape in the library, stumbled upon an old mirror. When he looked closely into it, he could see his family-his real family, not the Dursleys-standing behind him, all smiling and waving happily. Sakura gasped, knowing already, somehow, why Harry could see them.

In her mind's eye she stood in front of the mirror herself-small, like Harry, almost engulfed by the blank glass around her, and suddenly there was a woman standing behind her. The woman's face, never anything but bitter in Sakura's memory, was gentle and happy-her hands were stroking Sakura's hair.

The letters began to get blurry. Sasuke, the presence of whom she had forgotten, jumped off the bed suddenly, running out of the room.

He returned just as quickly, tugging Kakashi by the arm, and then retreated. Kakashi took in her state for a moment, standing in the doorway. He came to sit on the edge of Sakura's bunk, stooping so he wouldn't hit his head, looking at Sakura with a pained expression. Gently pulling the book out of her hands, he folded the corner of her page, and let her bury her face in his chest.

"Hey, old man, what made Sakura cry?" Naruto asked. Jiraiya regarded him unsurely, exchanging a glance with Madara. Naruto didn't know what that meant. He didn't understand grown-ups at all.

Sakura was the most emotional among the three of them, but when she cried she let it out whenever and wherever she was, regardless of the circumstances. He _knew_ she'd wanted to cry earlier, when they'd gotten the mail-but she'd held his hand on the walk home and smiled at him, like everything was okay. She'd _never _done that before. So why had she done it now?

Naruto was sitting at the kitchen table while Madara and Jiraiya tended to lunch on the stove: a big pot of soup. Jiraiya dropped heavily into the seat next to him.

"Naruto, do you know why Sakura lives here with her uncle, and not with her parents?"

Naruto nodded. "They travel around a lot," he said. He'd answered that question before: it had come from teachers and classmates often enough during the last four years.

"That's the truth of it," Madara said. "But a lot of parents travel with their kids anyway. I met a man once who had taken his daughter backpacking across New Zealand. He was a scientist studying the effect of climate on plant life. He could have left his girl with her grandparents-her mother was dead-but he didn't want to."

Naruto didn't see how that had to do anything with Sakura. "So?"

"So Sakura's mom and dad could manage to care for her while traveling if they tried," Jiraiya elaborated, "but they don't try to. The man Madara is talking about, he cared about his kid enough to take her wherever he went."

"And...so...Sakura's mom and dad..." Naruto struggled to come to the right conclusion. "They...don't. They don't care."

Jiraiya and Madara said nothing.

"But...that's not right!" Naruto exclaimed, rising. "They're her mom and dad, they're supposed to care! They're _supposed _to! What kind of mom and dad don't care about their kid? What kind of-"

Naruto's building tirade was interrupted by Sasuke trotting into the room. Sparing a look for the people in the kitchen, he sat on the sofa and didn't say a word.

"And so," Jiraiya eventually said, "when Sakura read that letter she handed to her uncle earlier, the one that was open, she found out that they weren't coming to see her for Christmas, just as they didn't every year since she came here. Wouldn't you cry, Naruto, if I wouldn't come to see you?"

Naruto glared. "She shouldn't cry about them!" he declared. "They're horrible! She shouldn't care about it if that's how they are. They don't deserve it."

"But Naruto," Itachi, who was leaning against the kitchen counter, implored suddenly, "wouldn't you want a mother and father who loved you?"

Naruto was at a loss for words. He remembered the faint flashes of red and gold, and heard the wisps of a lullaby, and sat down, staring glumly at his hands, which rested upturned in his lap.

When the girl in question, accompanied by her uncle, came downstairs, her swollen eyes and stuffy nose were bright red. Her expression was drawn and tired. Kakashi had her sit at the kitchen table, placing a bowl of soup and a spoon in front of her. He then got food for himself and sat down. Everyone else followed his lead, and lunch began.

The soup was the perfect temperature, just hot enough to make Naruto's insides feel as warm as summer. He chewed on a chunk of cooked chicken, wiping his mouth with his sleeve.

"Napkin, Naruto," Madara reminded him. In a rare reversal of roles, Sasuke was studying Sakura, and it appeared that he found whatever it was he was looking for, because he pushed his dinner roll to her placemat. She looked at him in slight confusion, but he had returned his attention to his bowl. They continued to eat in silence; Sakura eventually began to nibble on the extra roll.

After dinner, Jiraiya and Itachi were voted to do the dishes, and the others occupied themselves elsewhere. Naruto went immediately to _The Sorceror's Stone_, heading to the back door. He wanted to sit on the porch outside under a blanket and read while the snow fell. Sasuke told him he was stupid, that it was cold and he would just come inside after five minutes, but that only made Naruto want to do it more. Sasuke and Sakura sat down to watch a movie.

He pushed open the sliding glass door just a hair and shimmied through the opening, closing it behind him and settling into his favorite seat. He was just getting started on where he'd left off when voices drifted over from the yard.

"...don't understand why everyone is still spoiling the boy." It was Obito's voice.

"He saw his own parents laying dead right in front of him." Kakashi was with him. His tone was as cold as the air. "I doubt he will think to take advantage of it. He's a good kid-better than you give him credit for."

"For God's sake, I am the only one who has any _sense," _Obito snarled. "Do you honestly think being away from his family is helping him? He needs _us. _If being here was helping him, why do I hear that his weekly visits with his counselor are routinely unproductive?"

Naruto didn't hear a rebuttal from Kakashi. He guessed that Kakashi was trying to calm himself down. Finally he replied, "Not everyone heals from laying on a couch and crying with a stranger. Sasuke is the type of kid that bottles everything up. The only way he knows how to deal with his problems is to deny them until he can't take them anymore. He's been here for four years with us. We know how to handle him. Unlike his uncle, who has known him for his entire life and still does not know the first thing about him. Outside of how much he resembles his late father."

"Don't you put some sort of blame on me!" Obito growled. "You're too soft on him. His father wouldn't have raised him to be an emotional fool-"

"As I've already said, Fugaku is _gone. _If he and Mikoto weren't, things would be very different. But they are as they are now, and you can't bring back the past."

Obito seemed to hiss his response. "I'm sure _Rin _can attest to _that_."

Naruto frowned. Who was Rin?

With trepidation, Naruto realized that he was about to hear something important-something that would tell him why his guardian and his brother's uncle were always at odds with each other.

"It's been almost ten years," Kakashi said in a low voice. "And yet you still won't forgive me. Or accept responsibility."

Obito's voice was the most hateful that Naruto had ever heard it. "I would be betraying Rin if I did either."

He heard the sound of snow crunching beneath heavy feet, and hurriedly opened his book and made to look as if he had been reading the whole time. Obito stormed noisily onto the patio and into the house, followed by a much quieter Kakashi, who looked at Naruto without surprise. It appeared that he had known he was there the entire time.

"Is the book good, Naruto?" he asked.

"Uh-huh," Naruto said. "Were you and Mr. Obito arguing?" he asked innocently.

Kakashi waved his hand dismissively. "Aren't we always? Let's go inside, it's too cold to be out here."

Boy and man reentered the house. The Uchihas were pulling on their coats.

"We're gonna call it a night," Madara explained, appearing unaware of the words that his son and grandson's guardian had exchanged only moments ago. "I don't know about the rest of my kin, but I'll be over again tomorrow, if you don't mind my company."

Kakashi shook his head. "You're always welcome." Naruto glanced at Kakashi from the side. As if he could say anything else to Sasuke's _grandpa._

The evening wound to a close. As the trio lay in their beds, Naruto reflected on what he had heard earlier. What if Obito wanted to take Sasuke away?

Remembering his brother and sister, he whispered out, _"How far are you?"_

_"Chapter thirteen," _Sakura replied, _"Nicholas Flamel."_

_"Fourteen," _Sasuke breathed, already within the throes of sleep. Naruto let out a long, loud groan-he was still on chapter eleven. Suddenly something large and squashy hit him square in the face-it appeared that Sasuke had lobbed a pillow into his bunk with perfect precision. At the same time, something struck the underside of his bed-Sakura had kicked him.

After breakfast the next morning Sakura took care to tie up her hair with one of her new ribbons, and set about gathering her work materials: a gluestick, glitter, buttons, all of her markers, and gold paint. With a large piece of posterboard as a canvas, and _The Sorcerer's Stone _for reference, she began to create her masterpiece.

She was in the loft, spread out on the floor in such a way that anyone wanting to get into Kakashi's office would have to step over her. The reading project was due the week after winter break, and though she wasn't finished with the book she wanted to get started on the final product. She knew a lot already, enough to get started. She'd make a section for the main characters, and then for magical creatures. Another for Hogwarts classes, and an entire corner dedicated to the Houses. She made a mental note to leave a space open for plot.

At one point during the morning, Naruto came upstairs, searching for his own copy of the book, to see Sakura at work. She spared him a look, and was rewarded with an expression of open terror on his face.

"What?" she asked as petulantly as she could, hiding a smirk and anticipating his response.

"I-I-I forgot," he stammered.

"Forgot what?"

_"I forgot we had to do that!"_

"Are you _kidding? _This is the _entire reason _that we got those books in the first place!" she said.

Naruto ran straight back down the stairs. Sakura soon heard him begging Kakashi to take him to the craft store. She turned back to her work, and was not interrupted again until lunchtime, when the adults decided to go to Cho's Diner.

Cho's was owned by Choji Akimichi's family. He was one of Sakura's schoolmates, and was rather large for an eleven-year-old. He was, for the most part, very friendly. However, he would lose his temper if anyone called him fat to his face-but luckily no one wanted to, because in the fourth grade he had given Naruto a black eye for stealing his lunch. Everyone learned pretty quick that sweet, genial Choji wasn't averse to knocking someone's teeth out.

The kids were allowed to eat at the bar of the diner, which looked right into the kitchen. They had fun talking with Choji, who helped out in the restaurant, about _Harry Potter-_he was reading the book for class too. At one point Shikamaru Nara and Ino Yamanaka, his best friends, showed up, and soon they were all chattering excitedly about their favorite characters in _The Sorceror's Stone._

When the group left the diner, Sakura was delighted to find that it was snowing again, in just the way she liked: with little flurries falling gently to the ground, the air still and quiet. She liked to imagine that when it snowed, angels were actually pouring sugar down from heaven. They were making a cake, she decided, a Christmas cake, and someone kept knocking over the sugar with their wings.

"So, I'm going to take Naruto shopping for his project," Madara announced. "Anyone else want to tag along?"

"I'll go!" Sakura exclaimed. "I need stickers."

Sasuke stuck his hands in his pockets and looked at Kakashi questioningly, who nodded with a smile.

At the craft store, while hunting for stickers with broomsticks on them, Sakura found some colorful Mardi Gras masks in the clearance section while looking around, and excitedly showed them to her brothers, exlaiming that they were perfect for Kakashi. The trio picked a few off of the shelf and ran to meet Madara at the front of the store, showing him the masks and telling him Sakura's idea. They cried out in surprise when Madara, face turning red, covered his mouth, shaking with muffled laughter. He bought them each a mask and two for himself.

Sakura worked more on her poster after dinner, and was becoming quite proud of it. She had used a purple board-purple was just a color that screamed magic, in her opinion-and a lot of gold glitter. She wasn't the best artist, but she'd drawn the three main characters as best she could anyway. She'd used stickers for the four houses, and had even written down the Sorting Hat's song. She went to bed content that night, oblivious to Naruto's anxiety. He had started his project in the living room, and she'd snuck a peek at it when she'd gone downstairs for a drink-needless to say, he was going to need help at one point or another, and like always both she and Sasuke would probably end up giving it.

The rest of the week was filled with wrapping paper and snowball fights and hot cocoa by the fireplace in the evening. Ino Yamanaka dropped by the night before Christmas Eve and delivered a poinsetta bouquet made in her family's flowershop, and stuck her tongue out at Sakura before leaving. (Sakura and Ino were good friends, but, like Sasuke and Naruto, they had a tendency to bicker-about everything.) And on Christmas Eve, the trio convinced Kakashi to let them sleep by the Christmas tree, to keep vigil for Santa Claus. At least, that's what Sakura and Naruto said, as Sasuke had declared himself too old to believe in Santa. His siblings had gaped at him, horrified, when he'd informed them that Santa did not exist. Sakura had even chosen to sleep on Naruto's side, away from Sasuke, in protest of his callous attitude.

Sakura was determined to catch Santa delivering presents, even if just to prove her disillusioned brother wrong, but the warmth emanating from the slowly dying fire accompanied by the soft comfort of the futon soon had her eyelids drooping heavily, and she gave consciouness over to dreams.

Sasuke woke up first on Christmas morning.

It wasn't unusual that he woke up first-he was a light sleeper. What _was_ unusual, though, was that the stockings that hung over the fireplace were full, like bunches of grapes hanging from a vine, when just last night they had been empty, and presents that hadn't been there before were sitting innocuously under the tree. How could that be? He woke up whenever someone walked into a room he was sleeping in. Even his friends weren't exempt from that, and certainly not his guardian. Maybe it really was...?

No. He dismissed the thought. Even a man who successfully traveled around the world in one night would have to make some sort of noise, and that would have woken Sasuke up. Kakashi or Jiraiya had probably snuck them there the night before, when he had gone to the bathroom, and he just hadn't noticed when he returned.

He sat up, barely disturbing the futon on which he and his friends had slept. Naruto was uncharacteristically curled up, rather than splayed out as usual, but Sakura was sleeping as she normally did, half on her side and half on her back, with her one side of her face pressed into the pillow. Sasuke didn't know how she could breathe, but she _was_ a very heavy sleeper.

Sasuke looked around. The fire in the fireplace had long gone out, but the room was warm. Kakashi had cranked up the heater during the night, and Sasuke didn't blame him. He could see a thick layer of snow covering everything in sight through the foggy back door.

He shimmied out from under the covers and went over to Sakura's side, kneeling and shaking her shoulder gently. She woke up slowly, rubbing her eyes groggily and mumbling incoherently. Sasuke said quietly, "Wake up, Sakura, it's Christmas."

"Mmm..." she mumbled, shifting. His words finally seemed to reach her, though, because her eyes flew open and she sat up hurriedly, suddenly grinning. She proceeded to shake Naruto vigorously, chanting, "It's Christmas, Naruto, wake up! Wake up, Naruto, it's Christmas!"

It only took a little more shaking to wake their brother, but when he finally was conscious Sasuke half-regretted waking him up. He was only going to get louder from then on. Sakura and Naruto jumped up and began to dance around, and they pulled Sasuke into their antics, clasping hands with him and spinning in a circle until they fell to the floor.

The trio thundered upstairs and burst into Kakashi's room. Sakura was the first to jump on her uncle's bed, followed by Naruto. Sasuke, after a moment's hesitation, joined them, hopping up and down on the mattress. Kakashi woke up quickly, like a man suddenly doused with ice-cold water, and promptly threw them out of the room. Jiraiya, when they woke him, all but snarled at them to leave him alone. They went downstairs to wait beside the tree, bemused.

When Jiraiya and Kakashi finally came down, they were in decidedly better moods, hugging their young charges and wishing them a merry Christmas. Jiraiya went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast, while Kakashi allowed the kids to empty their stockings.

The smell of cinnamon wafted into the living room from the kitchen; Jiraiya was making cinnamon rolls and French toast. At ten o'clock, the doorbell rang, announcing the Uchihas' arrival. They entered bearing a basket full of wrapped gifts, Madara wearing a Santa hat over his bushy hair. Sakura plugged in the Christmas lights and found herself her own Santa hat, and Christmas morning got under way.

Naruto was the first to finish unwrapping his presents. He victoriously brandished his last gift-a Nerf gun-with aplomb. Luckily Kakashi snagged the toy from him with a stern expression and a warning that should any plates, windows, or TV screens be broken, Naruto's gun would go straight into the garbage. The boy visibly deflated.

Sakura had already slipped her feet into her new bunny slippers, and was examining her shiny new camera. However her favorite gift, Sasuke could see, was an electric piano-she'd been wanting one for ages. She kept glancing at its box with fascination. Ever since Hinata Hyuuga had given her a Gershwin cassete tape for her birthday in the third grade, she'd become permanently enamored with soft notes and ivory keys. She'd always looked forward to music day in elementary school even before then, and in junior high she'd signed up for orchestra when she discovered that a spot for piano was open (she had to play a second instrument, though, since it was used rarely in the basic pieces they practiced-she had decided on the violin). Sakura could already play some simple Mozart and Beethoven, but she preferred Debussy and Chopin already. She just couldn't play it yet.

Naruto had gotten an instrument too-a drum. He'd had been talking constantly about joining the middle school marching band, especially drumline, and had been begging for a drum to practice on. Sasuke didn't know how he was going to stand the racket now, in between the plinking of Sakura's piano and the booming of Naruto's drum.

Sasuke was delighted with his gifts, but he wasn't letting himself show it. He'd gotten a toolkit, something he'd been admiring in a catalog for weeks. He couldn't wait to use it-there was a watch stowed in one of his drawers that he was dying to take apart. Also there were hot wheels, a remote control car, and a model plane. It was as if Santa had really read the Christmas list he'd been forced to write in class.

All three kids had gotten red-and-yellow-striped scarves, something Sakura was particularly ecstatic about. She already had hers wrapped around her neck. Funny-Sasuke had thought she would like Ravenclaw more. He had no idea where Kakashi had found the scarves on such short notice.

After the gifts were all opened, the trio set to testing them out while the adults began Christmas dinner. Jiraiya was making a honey-roasted ham with cloves, and Madara, who couldn't really cook anything beyond simple recipes, was sitting at the kitchen table chatting with the other men, save for Obito, who had stepped into the backyard to smoke. Sasuke knew, however, that his uncle just didn't want to be near Kakashi.

To Sasuke's chagrin, Sakura was babbling animatedly to Itachi about major and minor keys, whatever that meant, while they say side by side next to the Christmas tree, and Itachi was smiling at her with that infuriatingly nice smile of his. It made Sasuke want to hit something.

While he brooded, in the meantime his older brother helped Sakura set up her keyboard, borrowing a chair from the kitchen table for her to sit on. She perched on the seat, flexed her hands and straightened her back, and eased out the opening notes to Moonlight Sonata. Sasuke was drawn from his sulking by the gentle notes. He didn't think he'd ever actually heard her play before. He watched her back as she swayed in time with the music she played, and forgot a little about his brother who watched her from the floor. She might have stumbled a few times, but he didn't know any other eleven-year-old who could actually play the piano.

Naruto had been ordered to play his drum in the backyard, as his instrument was decidedly more disturbing. It was at that moment that he stomped back into the living room, reported that it was snowing again, and demanded that his siblings go outside and play with him. Sakura looked at her piano longingly, but in a rare show of compassion she agreed with her brother. Sasuke decided he didn't mind either, so the trio put on their matching scarves, wrapped themselves in their coats, and went out to explore the snow-covered neighborhood.

Naruto kicked at piles of snow as they hobbled close together along the sidewalk. It was cold, a lot colder than they had thought it would be, but they didn't want to go back to the house. They had decided to go to the playground-maybe the swings would be useable. Naruto debated, during the walk, whether to tell his siblings about the argument he had heard between his guardian and his brother's uncle. After a little consideration, he told them the whole story, reasoning that, if anyone, his siblings should know.

After he finished his tale, Sakura, who was fast becoming more and more enamored with romance, imagined out loud that Kakashi and Rin had been in love. Obito had stolen her away, she decided, only to have her abandon the both of them. Naruto and Sasuke looked at her with identically droll expressions. It definitely wasn't something as dumb as that, Naruto thought assuredly.

Sasuke wondered aloud if Rin had been an adopted sibling of Kakashi's-much like they were all adopted siblings-who had died, leaving Kakashi to pin the blame on Obito. Sakura said that she had never heard anything like that from her mother, nor did Kakashi have any pictures of another sister. But the trio agreed, it was unlikely that Sakura's mother would have told her anything in the first place, and Kakashi didn't like to have pictures of _any_ his family up, save for the recent ones he had of the the four of them.

They reached the playground to find it dotted with snowdrifts and almost unusable. Luckily, the swings took only a little bit of clearing away before they were able play on them. The trio took turns pushing each other one by one: Naruto and Sasuke helped get Sakura going, and then Naruto rather roughly pushed Sasuke until his brother's momentum sustained his motion. He then got onto his own swing and started pumping his legs. Naruto liked to imagine that if he got swinging high enough, he'd be able to fly into space. He could become a comet-going on an endless adventure through the galaxy, discovering aliens and saving the universe from destruction.

Naruto thought better of that idea after a while. He would get hungry sooner or later, and he would miss his family.

Did he count his birth parents as family, he wondered? He couldn't remember them, after all. Their names had been Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki, Jiraiya had told him. They had been, according to him, shining examples of what ideal humans should strive to become, both of them kind and strong and loving. Kushina, his mother, had had flaming red hair-a trait Naruto wished he had inherited. He'd always thought red hair was cooler than anything. He looked almost exactly like his dad, though, blond and blue-eyed and tan-skinned. Jiraiya always told him that his parents had loved him a lot.

Wistfully he realized that he wished he had gotten to grow up with them as his parents. He wanted to be able to spend his birthdays and his Christmases and his Thanksgivings with them. He wanted to have a mom to get Mother's Day presents for, and a real dad to get Father's Day gifts for. He always got one for Kakashi, and mailed one to Jiraiya, but it wasn't the same. It would never be the same. He had adults who were just like parents, but they could never compare to the people he dreamed about, the bright, happy mother and father who were made of mist and stories. Their absence left an empty space inside him, a cavity that he kept hidden from his siblings and his guardian. It was a deep hole that he was too afraid of to delve into, filled with longing for a love he had no knowlege of.

Naruto looked over at Sakura and Sasuke. They weren't so different from him. Sakura's parents may as well have been dead, for all the good they did her, and Sasuke had lost his. They were bound together by their need for each other, by the desperate desire to know they were not alone as their demons plagued them.

They were too old to be eleven, all three of them, he reflected. The deepness of this thought surprised him.

He turned his gaze to the gray winter sky. Harry Potter was too old to be eleven, too-he'd endured over a decade of abuse at the hands of living relatives who detested him, without any knowledge of just how wonderful his real parents had actually been-and how wonderful he _himself_ could be. Naruto shared a part in Harry Potter, in that he'd never known the amazing people his parents had been. Sasuke shared in Harry, too, he guessed: his parents had been killed by someone Naruto fervently believed to be as evil as Lord Voldemort. And Sakura...Sakura also had her share of Harry, because the only living family she had, save for her uncle, saw her as nothing more than a stumbling block.

Nineteen-ninety-nine was in six days. The new year was empty, waiting to be filled up with summer days and winter nights and the next few pages of the stories of their lives. The next _Harry Potter _book, _The Chamber of Secrets, _was scheduled to come out in June.

There was a snowdrift just beyond the reach of Naruto's swing. He pumped his legs harder, building up momentum, the chain squealing as he ascended higher and higher with each swing.

Harry grew up alone, being told that he was nothing special. He'd had his own empty space, his own cavity, that had turned out to be filled with magic that had, in the end, always been there. He discovered that he was more special than he had ever imagined, and he had gotten a world made entirely of things too amazing to even dream of right along with it. Maybe Naruto, and Sasuke and Sakura too, just needed to find their own hidden magic. Maybe that was all they needed to unlock the fantastic world they truly belonged in.

Naruto laughed suddenly. What they needed were Hogwarts letters!

He pushed away from the swing, soaring for one brief, blissful moment before landing right on his target, sending snow in every direction. His siblings let out exclamations of surprise, followed by peals of laughter, and joined him in the snow. The coming year was alive with possibility.

**A/N: **I'm super busy at the present, applying for college and dealing with the last semester of my senior year. Like I said on my profile, I'm gonna stop giving an estimate of release dates for coming chapters, mainly because I don't like disappointing you guys when the date rolls around and the chapter is not up. Though I can't say anything for timeliness of updates, you can trust that each chapter will be of the best quality that I can put out.

What did you guys think of this chapter? I hope you enjoyed. Next up is the year 1999.


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